The shortlist for the Kopa Trophee has been announced by France Football, and includes the likes of Jadon Sancho, Matthijs de Ligt and Joao Felix.
The award is presented to the best Under-21 player in world football and was named after former French footballer Raymond Kopa.
This is just the second year of the trophy, which was last year scooped by Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe, with Christian Pulisic coming in second, while Justin Kluivert took the bronze place on the podium.
The Kopa Trophee is also a unique prize as it voted for by former Ballon d’Or winners such as Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Luka Modric.
Like last year, 10 players have been announced on the shortlist for the award, which was revealed on Monday evening.
The main contenders for the award will be Juventus’ De Ligt, Dortmund winger Sancho and Portuguese international Felix, while Vinicius Junior and Kai Havertz could also have an outside chance of claiming the accolade.
From the 10-man shortlist, five currently ply their trades in Spain - Felix, Vinicius, Kang-in Lee, Samuel Chukwueze and Andriy Lunin, while there are two Premier League nominees in Everton’s Moise Kean and Arsenal midfielder Matteo Guendouzi.
Sancho and Havertz are the only two representatives from the Bundesliga and De Ligt is the sole nominee from Serie A.
As for on the international stage, seven of the 10 players are from Europe, while South America, Asia and Africa all have one nominee each for the award.
The winner of the Kopa Trophee will be announced at a ceremony which will take place on December 2.
Full list:
- Joao Felix (Atletico Madrid/Portugal)
- Jadon Sancho (Dortmund/England)
- Moise Kean (Everton/Italy)
- Samuel Chukwueze (Villarreal/Nigeria)
- Kang-in Lee (Valencia/South Korea)
- Matthijs de Ligt (Juventus/Netherlands)
- Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid/Brazil)
- Kai Havertz (Bayern Leverkusen/Germany)
- Matteo Guendouzi (Arsenal/France)
- Andriy Lunin (Real Valladolid/Ukraine)
The shortlist for the Kopa Trophee was made alongside the list of nominees for France Football’s other prestigious award: the Ballon d’Or.
Released at the same time were the shortlists for the Trophee Yachine and the Women’s Ballon d’Or.
